LOUISVILLE | A Kentucky high school football coach on Monday pleaded not guilty to reckless homicide in the heat-related death of a 15-year-old player who collapsed while running sprints at a sweltering August practice.

David Jason Stinson was released without having to post bond following his arraignment. A grand jury last week indicted Mr. Stinson, who was in his first year as head coach, in the death of Pleasure Ridge High School offensive lineman Max Gilpin.

“This is not about football, this is not about coaches,” Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney David Stengel said after the hearing. “This is about an adult person who was responsible for the health and welfare of a child.”

Max was one of six people to die because of the heat in high school and college athletics in 2008. Mr. Stengel said he doesn’t know if this is the first case in which a coach has been criminally charged in such a death that happens occasionally in all levels of athletics.

One of Mr. Stinson’s attorneys, Brian Butler, said the case won’t be settled without a trial because his client “is not responsible for this child’s death.”

MASSACHUSETTS

High court to hear priest’s appeal

BOSTON | The highest court in Massachusetts has agreed to hear an appeal from a former priest who was a key figure in Boston’s clergy sex-abuse scandal.

Paul Shanley is serving a 12- to 15-year prison sentence for repeatedly raping and fondling a boy at a Newton parish in the 1980s.

A Superior Court judge rejected his bid for a new trial in November.

Shanley’s lawyer said Monday that the Supreme Judicial Court has agreed to hear Shanley’s appeal directly, bypassing the Appeals Court. No date has been set for the hearing.

MICHIGAN

Man, 93, freezes to death; bill unpaid

BAY CITY | A 93-year-old man froze to death inside his home just days after the municipal power company restricted his use of electricity because of unpaid bills, officials said.

Neighbors discovered Mr. Schur’s body on Jan. 17. They said the indoor temperature was below 32 degrees at the time, the Bay City Times reported Monday.

Mr. Schur owed Bay City Electric Light & Power more than $1,000 in unpaid electric bills, Bay City Manager Robert Belleman told the Associated Press on Monday.

OHIO

Waving to Obama leads to suspension

CLEVELAND | A Cleveland marching band said a drum major has been suspended for nodding and waving toward President Obama during the inaugural parade.

Pipe Major Mike Engle, bandleader of the Cleveland Firefighters Memorial Pipes & Drums, said Drum Major John Coleman has been suspended for six months after he acknowledged the president during last week’s inaugural parade in Washington, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Monday.

“We had gone over and over time and again with everyone in the band that this was a military parade. Protocol and proper decorum had to be followed at all times,” Mr. Engle said. “Unfortunately, John chose to ignore that.”

Mr. Coleman said he did not think he had done anything overly demonstrative during the parade.

“I looked over, and he smiled and waved. I was just acknowledging the president, who was acknowledging our band,” he said.

OKLAHOMA CITY | A growing ice storm has spread across a large section of Oklahoma, knocking out electrical service to hundreds of people and making roads hazardous.

The National Weather Service posted ice storm and winter storm warnings through Monday for parts of Oklahoma as well as sections of Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky and southern slices of Indiana and Illinois.

The Weather Service said up to an inch of ice was possible in places.

At least one traffic death was blamed on icy roads in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry declared a state of emergency for all 77 of the state’s counties, paving the way for seeking federal assistance for ice storm damage.

TENNESSEE

Janitor pleads guilty in nuclear theft

KNOXVILLE | A former janitor caught in an FBI sting operation trying to sell hardware from a shuttered atomic weapons uranium enrichment plant agreed to a plea deal Monday that carries a six-year prison sentence.

Roy Lynn Oakley, 67, pleaded guilty to one count of disclosing restricted data in violation of the Atomic Energy Act.

The judge said he would review a background report on Oakley before sentencing him May 14 under the deal to six years in prison and three years’ supervised release. Oakley faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

WASHINGTON

Foundation to boost spending this year

SEATTLE | The assets of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation lost 20 percent of their value in 2008.

But Mr. Gates said the foundation will increase its giving this year instead of cutting back because of the economic downturn.

In a letter issued Monday, Mr. Gates said the wealthy have a responsibility to help those who aren’t.

“This is especially true when the constraints on others are so great. Otherwise, we will come out of the economic downturn in a world that is even more unequal, with greater inequities in health and education, and few opportunities for people to improve their lives,” Mr. Gates wrote.

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